Comments on: Lying in a Hammock, or, Having a Single Goal without a Purpose

By: Kristy

Kristy — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 21:39:47 +0000

Hello mate, i can nothing but praise u. Every time u write an article, there is hell lot to learn. And most importantly People get a chance to share their views. so we come to know many new things that we didnt know before. Thanks for posting such interesting article.

By: Super Pet Ferret Simple Sleeper, Hammock, Colors Vary | About Ferrets

Super Pet Ferret Simple Sleeper, Hammock, Colors Vary | About Ferrets — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:03:29 +0000

[...] Lying in a Hammock, or, Having a Single Goal without a Purpose | I … [...]

By: Mid Year Reviews « The SharePoint Contender

Mid Year Reviews « The SharePoint Contender — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 21:19:42 +0000

[...] got mine and read this piece on goals from a former teaching and over all great blogger Tom [...]

By: tratamiento granos

tratamiento granos — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 17:41:21 +0000

You’ve written a great post. I’ve read all the opinions about what goal setting means to people, and i think each one is right in different things. We think about what we need and want, and we set that as a goal, but all depends on the way we plan to achieve it, our will power, the time we are able to spend… our goals are always changing in so many ways that we almost live improvising, here is the irony

By: Glenda (Essaymill)

Glenda (Essaymill) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 08:42:59 +0000

For some people, setting goals is their motivation to turn their vision into reality. I do have a problem with setting goals myself. I’m not a “goal” person. I usually take each day as they come. And I think it’s taking its toll on me now..

By: John

John — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 06:59:07 +0000

Tom, for me, setting goals is just another planning activity. As they say ‘planning is everything plans are useless’.

It never fails to amaze me that whenever I write a ‘to do’ list (is writing a list nothing more that goal setting) I move mountains to get them done. Having said that, I rarely write ‘to do’ lists!

Perhaps your one goal has sparked a creative process that helps you collect topics to write about. If you did NOT have that goal perhaps the list of topics would quickly dry up.

By: Milan Davidovic

Milan Davidovic — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 01:44:07 +0000

For me, the goal thing boils down to two questions:
What do I need?
Beyond that, what do I want?

More here.

By: Jane

Jane — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 00:05:54 +0000

I think the purpose of those company “personal goals” must be simply to make you see your job as something that’s going somewhere, not just a dull everyday repetition. Otherwise what use are they? People rarely refer to them. I prefer goals that truly come from inside yourself, like your goal of writing a page a day, rather than those that spring from a process imposed by someone who’s read a management book.

I’m a self-starter so I tend to write my own goals, both when I was employed and now that I’m freelance. Every so often I look at them to remind myself what *I* wanted to get out of my job. But they don’t rule my life. If they did, maybe I’d be more successful! Still, I think that if you’re doing a job you love, you will make goals, even if they’re just small ones floating around in the back of your brain. If you don’t have those goals maybe you should rethink why you’re in that job.

By: Sarah O'Keefe

Sarah O'Keefe — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 20:15:30 +0000

My grandmother was an Emily Dickinson scholar. And here is something relevant for you:

To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee,
One clover, and a bee,
And revery.
The revery alone will do,
If bees are few.

By: Scott

Scott — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 19:38:53 +0000

That’s where it comes from – a concept called mizu no kokoro (roughly translated as “mind like water”).